Marking the Anniversary

I got a notice marking my anniversary with this blog. Even though I’m mostly retired from doing this, I thought maybe I should at least put some thoughts down to mark the occasion. And it just happened to coincide with our spring Showcase so I can talk a bit about that.

Of course my connection with the Famous Franchise and ballroom dance goes farther back than the blog does. I didn’t start doing posts until I was faced with my first Big Dance Event and it took several years for them to convince me I should do one.

I still remember when OwnerGuy opened his studio. That was in the middle of the Famous Franchise break up and so he got shuffled to a location rather far from anything. My wife and I attended their first night party. I’m not sure if anyone else showed up but I don’t think so. Not the best start but they did build a collection of students. Most of them have moved on because very few people get the dance bug as bad as I got it.

Now in its second location, the studio is doing very well. It becomes obvious at Showcases where we vastly outnumber the two other studios in our area. Probably wouldn’t even have a Showcase if our studio wasn’t around. I kind of think I should have something named after me for being their first student and lasting as long as I have. But then again, I would just think about how much money I’ve spent there and what I could have done with that money and probably get a little depressed.

I mean on the whole I would say the plusses outweigh the negatives so perhaps it has all been worth it. Although, more and more, thoughts of calling it a day keep coming to mind.

Which brings us to the Showcase. I won’t go on a rant again because I did that previously. But the same problems that caused the rant still exist. The way the heats are arranged always leaves both large gaps and then intense periods of back to back dancing.

For example, there was almost a five hour gap between my last smooth heat and my first rhythm heat. I did my solo in that gap but that was it. The ended up taking two breaks during the rhythm rounds before I had even danced a single heat. Then I think I was in 13 of the last 15 heats finishing with Mambo, East Coast Swing and Hustle.

It presents several challenges. Especially since my smooth heats were clustered together as well. So I finished those and then had this long gap where you have to figure out how to keep your muscles from tightening up. Plus there is just the mental challenge of trying to stay in the game – there is really only so much sideline cheer leading I can do.

The arthritis in the knees doesn’t help either. If I stand for too long, the knees start to ache and get stiff and that limits movement. But sitting for long periods of time is no good either. So the afternoon was just a series of stand up/sit down moments.

Well I said I wouldn’t rant and I’m starting so I won’t go any further.

I know this is just the software they use. I suspect there would be ways to split it up better – I can think of a few options. But I guess those would take extra work and it seems like putting together something like Showcase becomes so stressful for certain people that asking to do more isn’t an option. Even if it would make the experience more enjoyable for most people (I’m not alone in having the complaints that I do)

The reality is that nothing is going to change and that just means I have to continue to reassess how many heats I really want to do knowing that the majority of them are going to be crammed together. I already dropped the number I usually do and it was still a grind so I’m not sure where we’ll end up.

I’m kind of still ranting but just one last thought. They play up Showcase as a big fun event where you get to just dance and have a good time. But if you are having to do multiple dances in a row it becomes more of a physical endurance thing and far less fun. Probably not an issue for those who are young and in good shape but not all of us fall into that boat.

There were still certainly parts of the day that I enjoyed but it is becoming less and less fun as the years go by. And all that does is add fuel to the little fire in my mind that is saying it may be time to call it a day on the ballroom lesson thing.